Orbit Activity 11

It’s a really good skill to be able to describe and practically demonstrate how to do something. This activity is enjoyable for the audience, challenging for the speaker and engaging.

Activity 11 – Practical demonstration

Duration: 6-8 mins
Pre-requisites: Completion of Launchpad Program

Aim

To give a sequenced practical demonstration of how to do something physical.

Objectives

  1. To give members an understanding of why this particular skill is useful
  2. To show members how to sequence. What to do and in what order
  3. To give an understanding of the difficulties and challenges this activity may have

The Why…

It’s a really good skill to be able to describe and practically demonstrate how to do something. This activity is enjoyable for the audience, challenging for the speaker and engaging.

The How

Specific guidelines on how to tackle this activity.

First of all, consider the time you have. If you’ve been given 6 minutes, you need something that can be done in 6 minutes. If you’ve been given 10, then it needs to take the full 10 minutes.

Think of something that can be done in the time allocated, and you can bring easily to the Rostrum meeting. For example, how to:

  • Prune a rose or repot a plant
  • Fix a puncture
  • Sew a button
  • Rig a surfski
  • Make a cocktail
  • Prepare a simple dish (uncooked, obviously)
  • Shave off a beard
  • Apply makeup
  • Iron a shirt
  • Clean a window

(For other ideas, try YouTube.)

Think through the sequencing carefully. The aim of this activity, more than anything else, is to practice sequencing.

Sometimes the simplest things can be the hardest to do in terms of identifying all the steps to follow. You would be surprised at how many people miss steps when doing something as simple as making a cup of coffee.

Tips and traps

Tip: Make sure you go into enough detail so it’s clear to your audience.

Trap: Going over time. Don’t go into too much detail.

Tip: Plan where you’re going to stand in the room so everyone can see. Plan whether you’re going to ask people to stand up, or sit down while watching the demonstration. What would be best for them to see the whole process? Think through the space you have in the room and the best way to utilise it.

Trap: Don’t gloss over steps or rush through them too quickly. Ensure adequate time for members to see and understand each step and why it’s important. There could be reasons why missing it or getting it wrong may mess up the rest of the sequence or final outcome.

Tip: Pause between the steps if necessary. Use clear discourse markers and connective language (e.g. “Step 2”, “Next”, “Meanwhile”, “To summarise”) to show that you’re moving onto the next step.

Trap: Don’t assume people know the ‘what’ or ‘why’ of each step, even if it seems really obvious to you. Often experts assume everyone has the same baseline knowledge as them. It’s rarely true, so make sure all explanations of the ‘why’ and the step itself are clear, succinct and separate from the previous step.

Guidelines for Program Director:

The biggest problem that often happens in this activity is that members don’t actually demonstrate, they just talk about something. However, this activity is not a lecture, it’s a demonstration. You need to make it very, very clear that they need to actually bring all the equipment or whatever they need to do what they’re going to do. It’s a physical demonstration. (You may want to make this the last activity on the agenda, as it will often require some set-up of the room, which may not work for the next speaker).